dentist vs doctor income

09-08-2006, 09:58 PM	#3
CC24 Guest Posts: n/a	Get off his back, he’s just asking a question. And why do you care if someone gets into the field just for the money, anyway?
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09-09-2006, 12:57 AM	#4
Aspen D Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1,411	ethics perhaps?
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09-09-2006, 09:01 AM	#5
cc77cc77cc Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 175	I would much rather pay a very smart people to operate on me than some idiot who wants to “help people”. Not to sound like I have no heart myself, but a being a physician or dentist is a career–of course money is going to be a prime motivator in luring the smartest into the field. Deny it as much as you like, but you can see the same phenomenom acrosss the board in all high paying professions. Personally, I believe that to make a great physician, you need to have both heart and brains.
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09-09-2006, 01:38 PM	#6
aznsnake0307 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: State College, PA (PSU) Posts: 200	my friends a dentist and he says that you have to invest a TON of money at first on equipment and stuff. The salary can differ based on how much business you get. They’re both high paying and its hard to say which one is more. being smart doesn’t mean you are the best doctor. Great doctors and horrible doctors come out of the best med schools anyway. Usually the most brilliant doctors end up doing research. that would be the only reason why ANYONE would go to a top notch med school such as Penn, JHU, Duke, Harvard, etc. is for research, not clinical stuff.
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09-09-2006, 11:46 PM	#7
hydrogen3k Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: NJ Posts: 280	It depends on what kind of dentist/doctor. In general, I would agree that the average dentist earns more than the average doctor due to lower malpractice insurance. However, the top 10% of doctor salaries would be a lot higher than that of the dentist’s. Finally, dentistry also is, in most parts, less demanding than medicine.
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ru03j89 Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 44	dentist vs doctor income hey some of my friends told me that on average dentist make more money. Is that true? cause I always thought doctors made more. What are the averages? can somebody post a link? thanks
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09-08-2006, 08:07 PM	#2
tokenbrownman New Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 14	dude… you should be going into the health field without regard to the income, because quite frankly its shallow as hell if you do. If you’re concerned about income, why not go for Investment banking at NYU Stern? but if you’re just curious, try googling “average dentist salaries”, and click on the web address that begins with “swz.yahoo.com” or something like that (its a yahoo thing), and from there you’ll be able to see the average income for a dentist in your area. Hope this helps.
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09-09-2006, 11:49 PM	#8
mkm56 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,505	Plus none of the dentists in our town work more than a 4 day week and no call !
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05-16-2008, 11:17 PM	#9
docnaka New Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1	Professional answer I am a dentist, my wife is a dentist, my father was a dentist, and I have numerous uncles that are dentists, etc. That being said, I can only speak from my own experience. From a financial standpoint alone, a dentist can make a significant amount of money. I went to UOP dental school in SF which is the only 3 year program in the country. You can immediately expect $120K out of dental school. A general practitioner with his/her own private practice will earn $150K – $500K. I know that this may sound like a huge range, but I can promise you that the upper limit is acheivable. Dental specialists ie orthodontist, oral surgeons, endontists, etc will most likely make $250K- $800K (in California Bay Area). On the other hand, doctors need to do a residency and work pretty hard in my opinion. I don’t think that they make any more money than dentists, but I am sure that the range is comparable. A better question is the quality of life. I can tell you that dentits undergo a lot of stress. The stress comes from dental procedures (people’s #2 fear behind public speaking), management, and running a business. Personally, I am very happy with my choice, but I don’t think that dentistry is for everyone. Once again, I can’t speak for MD’s.
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05-16-2008, 11:19 PM	#10
Docnerd New Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 26	choosing a career isnt about the salary or money you will make, it’s about what you like and what you want to do in life, shadow BOTH and then decide, that’s what I did, but yeah both are excellent careers that require a passion for serving others
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05-17-2008, 09:42 PM	#11
ivybound1010 Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 468	to be specific average dentists i think make more than average primary care physicians if you become an orthodontist or something then obviously you will make a lot more just like if you become a radiologist or orthopedic surgeon or something, you will make a lot more but lets just say someone fresh out of medical school and a family medicine residency versus someone fresh out of dental school the person from dental school will probably have a higher salary in todays market
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05-17-2008, 09:44 PM	#12
ivybound1010 Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 468	and it definitely is important to consider money in your decision it would be ignorant and silly not to consider how much a job is going to pay you – how do you plan to provide for yourself and your family? however, your decision shouldnt be based soley on money
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05-18-2008, 04:03 AM	#13
thechaagaaaz New Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 23	Both are called doctor and both make a relatively good living, but these are two very different professions. Whether the salaries are comparable or not shouldn’t be a factor in making a decision between the two fields; however, whether you like either of the professions should be a deciding factor.
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11-30-2010, 11:15 PM	#14
dohenry3000 New Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: UC Berkeley Posts: 24	Here’s what I seem to notice so far from college. I talk in statistics and generalities and of course other are exceptions to what I say. Those who actually care usually don’t work hard enough to become doctors. Those who do it for money work hard enough for it. They study their stuff, are ambitious, and have often far superior work ethics. The people who care often call these people anti-social and unfit to go into the health professions. What’s funny is the people who spout that trash about having a life, enjoying college, and doing it for love are retarded and don’t know crap about life outside of school. The people that do it for the money do what they do very well. So what if the guy is doing it for money? He’ll probably be a great dentist and work hard at it since that will increase business for him. So I agree with cc77cc77cc.
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12-06-2010, 09:38 PM	#15
oreo45 Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 389	For your patient’s sake please look into each profession carefully and choose the one you would love to do every single day.